When Lisa and I arrived home on Sunday we were blown away how unbelievably awesome our yard looked.

The front, side, & back yards look so beautiful.

I can’t express how happy we are to have had this help.

All of the work done would have taken me months to complete and you guys did it in 1 Day.

TRULY AMAZING!

In the past couple of days, we find ourselves enjoying every aspect of the freshened-up yard.

I stand in the yard and gaze around.

On Sunday Lisa sat on the deck with a cup of tea and just looked around with a huge smile on her face.

All of you have made our lives at home that much easier and we can’t thank you enough.

Warren & Lisa

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The Yard Angels initiative is organized by Creative Roots Landscaping, a local company that’s held two other similar events in town this year. “It’s been so successful and so fun for all our team to pitch in and do something good for people who deserve it,” said Ryan Markewich, part owner of Creative Roots.

Randy was in Australia with his wife Karen last December for their daughter’s wedding when a wave pulled him underwater and drove him head first into the ocean floor. Randy broke two vertebrae and was rendered a quadriplegic. He’s been recovering at Vancouver General Hospital for months, and was recently transferred to Kelowna General Hospital, but his wife expects him home with the next few weeks. “He’s very anxious to get out of a hospital setting and get back to the home again,” said Karen, who added they’re still looking to hire a caregiver before he comes home. “Having Ryan here today with Creative Roots and all of his gang, it’s just awesome, I can’t explain it. I can’t imagine taking it on myself.”

Many of the volunteers working at the Lachmuth residence Saturday were Creative Roots employees, while others simply wanted to help out. Markewich said they accept nominations from the public for the Yard Angels program, and four separate people nominated the Lachmuths for Saturday’s free yard cleanup.

“It doesn’t take a lot to give back. It’s a few hours on a Saturday a few times a year to make people proud,” Markewich said.

Watch the Castanet report here:  Yard Angels Strike Again
by Nicholas Johansen – Nov 3, 2018

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Brogan, a Paws It Forward Board Member was excited and so grateful when she heard the news of the $1000 donation. Perfect timing! The donation will help cover medical costs of some of rescued dogs currently in foster care, she said. Though the veterinarians give them much-appreciated discounts, Paws It Forward needs more donations to help keep their accounts current. Their next fundraiser is the annual “Wine for K9’s” on June 21, and they always accept donations through their website: www.pawsitforward.org.

For the Creative Roots family, giving back is inspirational and super important. They’re hoping more local businesses embrace the concept of turning their time into money for good of the community.

“Build Strong Relationships” is a core value the Creative Roots team lives by. Through their GiveBack program they build positive community relationships throughout the season. The YardAngel project in May, July and October provides yard miracles; helps those unable to do yard work. $1000 donations to Paws It Forward in June, and to a yet to be announced local charity in August. A $1000 Bursary to a local graduating student. Finally, quarterly $100 donations to various charities via 100 Men Who Give A Damn Kelowna. Creative Roots GiveBack provides positive impact throughout the community.
Creative Roots Landscaping operates using an Open Book Management system that includes weekly meetings to discuss the finances of the company, ways to succeed as a team, and the impact that success will have on the bottom line. Each employee donates an hour of their wages for these meetings to the GiveBack providing the program with between $800 and $1000 per month which enables all the giving to happen. To date they have donated over $127,000 in cash and in-kind – while giving employees a positive relationship with their community.

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“People often associate pride with the upkeep of their own personal yard. When I purchased my first (and still current) home in Kelowna 11 years ago, I too, took a lot of pride in maintaining my property. Unfortunately, in 2011, I experienced the onset of significant health problems which have continued to persist up until present, thus unavoidably causing the upkeep of my yard to gradually fall by the wayside. Over the past several years, my list of “yard projects to do if/when I get healthy” had grown quite lengthy. I had long since put my “yard pride” to the side, as I was understandably more focused on dealing with my health challenges. Then last month, my kind neighbour approached me and told me about a charitable initiative that she had come across on Castanet. Creative Roots Landscaping was seeking nominations for their “Yard Angels” program, which sought to give assistance to housebound individuals whose yards would benefit from some “angelic” landscaping assistance. My neighbour explained that she had nominated me, and that I had been chosen as April’s Yard Angels recipient. Suddenly, I was faced with a different kind of internal pride to navigate. Despite my prolonged health struggles, I was not accustomed to accepting this scale of help from others; especially if there might be someone else in greater need. Upon meeting and discussing things with the Creative Roots representative, Colette Kinderdyk, I was able to realize that the Yard Angels were essentially giving me the opportunity to reclaim my yard pride, if only I could set aside my autonomous pride. Of course, it is not always easy to accept help from others, but am I ever glad that I did.

On a Saturday morning in May, a team of kind-hearted, skilled Yard Angels descended upon my property at 8 am – multiple trucks filled with tools, supplies, and hard-working landscapers. Colette had already been out to my property once before, at which time she had taken pictures of my yard and discussed with me the different items on my wishful “to do” list. By 3 pm that same day, my yard had been transformed and revitalized. Rock beds inundated with weeds were pulled up, re-covered with new, black underlay and re-spread with rock. My lawns were mown, edged, power raked, aerated, seeded, and 2 small areas that had died off were rejuvenated with new strips of turf. My back fence had rotted and collapsed – the Yard Angels broke all of the panels down and carted them away for me. I had a hole in the roof of my shed – a skilled craftsman removed the old roof and then entirely re-roofed and re-tiled my shed. The Yard Angels pruned my bushes, including my roses. They removed all of my old, rotten landscaping ties and replaced them with new ties. They expanded and prepared my small garden area with soil. Their work was impeccable. Their generosity of spirit, time and skill was inspiring. When I came outside a few times to offer the team food and drink, every single one of the Yard Angels was genuinely pleasant and appreciative of the refreshments. They worked with such unmistakeable drive and positivity – actually making me feel like they were grateful to me for the opportunity to work on my yard. At first, I didn’t understand that – they were the ones helping me. But then I realized that in the positive, selfless work they were doing, a contagious wave of giving and goodness had spread among them.

Thanks to the Yard Angels from Creative Roots Landscaping, I have my yard back – and the pride that goes along with it. I will be forever grateful to the Yard Angels for their generous assistance. With so much negativity going on in the world today, it really was inspiring to see a group of people come together to do something so positive and helpful.” Jim

The Yard Angel program started this year. In a nutshell, 3 times a year they accept nominations from the public to help someone with their yard while they are incapable, due to illness, hospitalization etc. A nomination is selected, and the magic begins. The next Yard Angel magic will happen in July. For more information go to their website: www.creativerootslandscaping.com/giveback
Not only was the event a boost for the recipient, but the Creative Roots family was super inspired and energized by helping out the appreciative family.

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JoeAnna’s House will be a home-away-from-home to keep families together when they need it most. This year the Construction Manager at Creative Roots, spent many days at the Kelowna General Hospital with the arrival of his new son, and so the team felt strongly about giving back to this worth while cause.

Live better by giving back is a team core value, and Creative Roots follows through big time. Each week, each team member donates one hour of their time towards the GiveBack campaign. The funds are then shared among several charities each year.

In 2017 Creative Roots donated $9,400, and to date $125,135 in cash and in-kind work.

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Heather Henderson, founder of Arion Therapeatuic Farm was getting ready for their annual holiday fundraiser on Sunday, when she found the lock on their office door had been pried open.

About $400 was stolen, which to Henderson is a lot.

“We needed it… you know,” she said. “We’ve had a hard month, we’ve lost a few animals.”

“All the fees help our animals so it is very disappointing to find that, especially on the day we are trying to make money.”

A local company heard the news on Castanet and knew they had to do something.

“Everyone just rallied to see how we could help out,” said Matt Northey from Creative Roots Landscaping.

The company delivered a cheque for $1,500 to the farm on Monday morning.

“Hopefully that helps towards some of their losses and maybe gets them a little ahead this winter to help the horses out,” said Northey.

The farm is an educational and supportive site offering a variety of amenities and hands on farm activities to everyone.

Henderson said the community support has been amazing.

“A GoFundMe page raised us about $1,200 and just today we got this phone call from Creative Roots Landscaping,” she said. “$1,500 goes a long way, that is barrels of hay, that is half a month.

“It is very helpful, especially as we roll into Christmas.”

By Alanna Kelly – Reporter – Castanet News

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What a great way to wrap up a busy July! On Friday, July 28, the staff at Creative Roots donated $3,000 to HOPE Okanagan.

“We are growing so fast this year and just can’t keep up with some of the things we need,” explained Angie Lohr, President and Co-founder of HOPE Okanagan.

Hope Okanagan provides night time outreach to homeless and/or sexually exploited women in Kelowna’s downtown core and offers a safe house/recovery house to women. To learn more about how Hope is helping people in our community, visit their website: https://www.hope-outreach.com.

The staff at Creative Roots Landscaping Ltd feel it is vitally important to Give Back to the community. Our staff of 17 people donates one hour of their time every week to contribute to the Community Give Back fund. Together, we choose a charity that we feel could benefit from our donation. One of our employees, Sam Ulasy, recommended HOPE Okanagan for this month’s Give Back because her mom volunteers there. After learning more about the organization and hearing first hand what a difference HOPE make in the lives of our community members, we couldn’t agree more that this is a deserving cause.

To-date, Creative Roots has donated over $118,000 in cash and in-kind work to organizations in our community. Could yours be next? Drop us a line and tell us about a cause that is close to your heart !admin@creativerootslandscaping.com

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This spring, Creative Roots Landscaping staff made a warm gesture to local charity, Inn From The Cold – Kelowna.  A $3000 donation was presented to Executive Director, Jan Schulz. “This money will be used for Shelter operations and to quantify this, your hugely generous cheque could:

•         Shelter 120 vulnerable people in our community; or
•         Provide over 600 meals
•         Sponsor food and shelter for 1 person for over 3 months; or
•         Sponsor meals and shelter for 100 guests”

“As you can see this is an enormous contribution,” Schultz added. “I find it hard to begin to tell you what this cheque means to us. We are a tiny organization and rely so heavily on the generosity of folks such as you!”

The non-profit organization responds to the needs of Kelowna’s most vulnerable by offering year-round support and advocacy programs, including outreach services, case management, in-home support and street soccer. Seasonally they operate a minimal barrier shelter that provides a safe, non-judgemental and welcoming environment to those in need.

Each year, Creative Roots Landscaping makes multiple donations to local charities in the Central Okanagan. “By contributing to these charities, we hope to address changing societal needs and have a long-lasting, positive impact on our community,” explained Ryan Markewich, owner of Creative Roots. “We want to make a difference in people’s lives.”

The local landscaping company operates using Open Book Management, which includes weekly meetings to discuss the finances of the company, ways to succeed as a team and the impact that success will have on the bottom line.  Each employee donates an hour of their wages for these meetings to the Give Back fund and provides input as to where the donations will go.  

The Creative Roots Give Back Program is an extension of a management method that engages and educates employees, generating thousands of dollars for charity – over $118,000 to date in cash and in-kind donations – while giving employees a voice in their workplace.

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